Spontaneous Human Combustion

I drove my car this morning and realized I bought it on December 29, 1998.  It is now 15 years old and is still fine late 20^th century technology.    The car has 120,518 miles and I am driving fewer and fewer miles each year on the car as it and I both get older.

It is 2.8 liter V6 C Class Mercedes and the only hassle with the car is it chews up tires.  The set on the car now is the fifth set (fourth replacement).   I just replaced the tires a few weeks back and got Uniroyal Tiger Paws as they are made by Michelin and are pretty affordable.   $425 for all four tires with balancing, new valve stems, and disposal charges for the old tires that were down to the bare tread.

My friend Sudhir has a 7 year old Acura (similar size if not larger than my C Class) with 120,000 miles on his car and he is still on his second set of tires that need replacement soon.   He drives more freeway miles and does not have a driveway like mine that is at 37 degrees angle.   I drive city miles with a lot of hills here in Marin County.   I also need to take all the junk in the trunk out of my car, but there is no doubt the Mercedes is harder on tires than the Acura.  I will investigate and report when I find out the real reason why other than my bad driving.

The 15 year old car has a six CD player and can also play cassettes.  It has a very fine Bose stereo system that plays music like Stairway To Heaven in perfect pitch.   It has fuel injection and gets an average of 22 MPG in my city (more like town) driving.  The fully synthetic oil only needs changing every 10,000 miles (8.5 quarts though) and the car suits me fine as it is fully amortized and still rides like a Mercedes.

The new 2014 C Class Mercedes with a V6 is the C 350 that does not get much better mileage than my old car.  It sure goes faster and has much more power and is a really nice looking car but it still only gets 23 MPG combined.   I also wonder how long the tires will last on those 17 inch wheels and how expensive the will be to replace. 

When I decide to replace the 15 year old beauty, I wonder if I will simply get a Prius.  In 2015 the C Class will be offered with a plug in hybrid option but I doubt I will buy this car as plug ins make no sense from a green point of view unless of course you are Mr. Marsh in Seattle driving that Nissan Leaf 35,000 miles a year on a green grid in perfect weather for long battery life.   I’d imagine the plug in hybrid C class Mercedes will have extremely short tire life.

When I replaced my tires a few weeks back, the store manager told me that he is already replacing tires on Tesla Model Ss with only 15,000 miles.   It seems the drivers of those heavy cars are burning tires with rapid acceleration and eating up tread with the heavy mass of the Model S.   I will ask Dr. P how his tires are doing.   Remember Dr. P is the guy in Orange County who commutes 100 miles a day to and from work in his Model S so can go in HEV lane.  Dr P must have about 12,000 miles on his Model S now. 

A friend of mine Mr. J just purchased a Model S in New Jersey.   Mr J lives 3 miles from his work and will not drive more than 10,000 miles a year.  Mr. J did not buy the full moon roof option as he read my blog that he would freeze in winter with that option.   I bet that Mr. J will actually use less kilowatt hours per mile than Dr. P but it could go either way.   I shall report real data from Dr. P and Mr. J.   I wish Dr. J was also my friend as he was one of the greatest basketball players ever.

There once was a guy named Dr. J Irving Bentley who is famous for dying in a reported case of Spontaneous Human Combustion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Irving_Bentley

Maybe he drove a Model S and not a Bentley. 

Dr. P and Mr. J I sent you both asbestos underwear for your Xmas gift but UPS is late in delivering. 

Carbon Emissions To Increase 1.9% in 2013 In The USA

Ernie Moniz has been on the job as Secretary for almost a year.  He took over from Dr. Chu Chu who really messed up energy policy so we give Dr. Moniz a break for the disaster at the Department of Entropy in his first year.   

During 2013 the emissions of CO2 in the USA will increase  1.9% versus 2012 and are expected to increase 0.4% in 2014 versus 2013.   This is data from the Energy Information Agency that is part of the DOE. 

http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/pdf/steo_text.pdf

The reason for the increase in CO2 emissions in these years is that coal will gain back some share of electric power generation compared with natural gas.   In 2012 natural gas was extremely inexpensive thanks to the shale production that suddenly hit an oversupplied market.   Shale natural gas did wonders to lower CO2 emissions and electricity prices.   CO2 emissions in 2012 were 3.9% lower than in 2011 thanks almost entirely due to shale natural gas.

Mr. Obama and Dr. Chu had absolutely nothing to do with shale natural gas production but this “unwanted” source of energy has saved our butts.    Mr. Obama and Dr. Moniz want nothing to do with coal power generation but market pressures (pricing) are allowing coal to recover some market share in power generation.  

Mr. Obama and Dr. Moniz continue the gangrene policy of helping Via Motors introduce their fake 100 MPG truck.   I have blogged about how wasteful the $40,000 per truck gift from the DOE to fleet owners of the fake green truck is.

http://www.greenexplored.com/2013/10/the-600-hammer-and-2857-ton-of-co2.html

I have asked Senator Diane Feinstein to start investigations into Via and the DOE money.   She is the Chairperson of the US Senate Subcommittee on Energy and Water and that subcommittee has a hand in funding the DOE.  You see Via is the reincarnation of Raser and there is quite a bit of dirty laundry in the US Senate and DOE in the Raser file.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2011-10-13/failed-energy-projects-cross-party-lines/50760182/1

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-10-28/hatch-solyndra-cyrq-energy/50985576/1

Part of  the reason I wrote my outside witness testimony back in February 2010 to the Senate subcommittee on energy and water was that the chairman of Raser gave false testimony to the same subcommittee on his 100 MPG Raser Hummer that Senator Hatch drove around the US Capitol.

http://www.greenexplored.com/2010/11/my-us-senate-outside-witness-testimony.html

Senator Feinstein was appointed to head the subcommittee a year after all of this happened and bears zero responsibility for the plans Hatch hatched.  But she now can find out why Via the reincarnation of Raser is getting $40,000 a vehicle from the DOE as a subsidy and why we are paying  a carbon tax of $2,857 per short ton to subsidize a technology that has already been fully disgraced.

The gangrene green fakes simply rename their technology with a catchy name and the folks at the Department of Energy give away money like there is no tomorrow.  The coal companies should just call their product petrified biomass and the DOE will say it is a wonderful fuel for power generation.  

Mr. Huffman played no role in Raser that was left to the Governator of California who loved the Raser Hummer and drove it around Sacramento.  Thank God we are rid of Arnie who had a thermodynamic IQ three below plankton.

Here is a blog I wrote over four years ago about Arnie and the legal system.

http://www.greenexplored.com/2009/11/eagle-has-landed-on-falcons-parents.html

Happy New Year as history repeats itself!!!  I am petrified about using petrified biomass to produce gangrene energy.  

Huffman Catches and Releases a Steelhead

Jared Huffman my esteemed US Congressman is vacationing in the far northern reaches of our state.  He went fishing for Steelhead on the Smith River and caught a beauty.   Check out his picture that he posted on his Facebook fan-club page shown above.

I am happy the hard working and green congressman is taking a break and very happy that he returned the Steelhead he caught by releasing it back to the Smith River.  Mr. Huffman caption his FB photo with the following comment: “Wonderful 3 days in Del Norte County, including a visit to the Smith River and a chance to catch and release this gorgeous wild steelhead!”

John Rapf one of Mr. Huffman’s fans who is allowed to comment on the FB page (I am not) commented: “Unfortunately, the odds are that fish died from being held and out of the water for the time it took to take the picture. You can look it up. We should either close rivers to fishing or allow to keep what is caught. I'm for closing until the runs recover.”

Mr. Huffman replied: “John, I can assure you this fish was handled very carefully (including no net), revived properly, swam away with vigor and is just fine.”

John Rapf then said “Here's a link to an article that touches the surface of the issue:http://troutunlimitedblog.com/debate-is-catch-and.../ if you use google you can find some interesting research. Living on the SFK of the Trinity, I see folks hitting the same holes and stretches of river time after time. I think that the mortality rates are much higher then good people realize. I also don't think that just because the fish swims away it is fine. To steal a phrase from Jared, "it just means it swam away." My opinion only. I am so proud of the work Jared does. I talk him up a lot. Keep up the good work.”

Mr. Huffman then replied to his fan John “Thanks John. Please note that the article doesn't cite any data or studies - it just raises questions, and in the end seems to endorse catch and release. Please also note that if I catch a hatchery steelhead, I have no problem keeping it -- as the author seems to endorse as well. Onward.”

OK Mr. Huffman certainly has time to fish and time to communicate with John who is “so proud of the work Jared does.  John also commented that "I talk to him a lot.”

Well the Green Machine has tried in vain for over a year to have 15 minutes of chat time with Mr. Huffman on the subject of the SGIP funds that were given or will be given to Bloom Energy and or its customers like AT&T.  I do not need to talk to Mr. Huffman a lot.  I do not need to have him spend his time reading Trout Unlimited Blog.  I do not need to question whether the fish he caught and released is doing fine or became food for another sea creature.  I just need to ask him about the quarter billion dollars of SGIP money and the emissions of CO2 and VOCs as well a a quick question on solid toxic waste that contains sulfur in these Bloom Coffins.

Frankly Jared I don’t give a damm about one fish you caught.  I want to catch the “big fish” that own, direct, manage, and operate Bloom Energy.  I want to catch the big fish of AT&T that lied about lowering carbon emissions here in Northern California when they more than doubled them.   If I catch these big fish that include steal (note the pun) heads like Al Gore, Colin Powell, and John Doerr.   I certainly won’t release them after catching them.  I would make them live in that sulfur pit they created but only after they release back the quarter billion dollars they greenwashed their way to get from we the people through legislators like you.  These steal heads will be forced to wear cone heads.  Bloom may be reliable, green, and efficient in Remelak but it is a dirty, inefficient, and unreliable pine cone on planet earth. 

Gore, Doerr, and Powell can pretend they are from France and are green but each of them is dressed as Father Beldar not Father Christmas and they bear us no gifts.  As for Mr. Huffman I need to tell him that Steelhead is a consumable.  He is welcome to spend any time, after he meets face to face with me, wading in cold rivers catching and releasing fish and pretending to be a wild and crazy guy.    As for me after my meeting with Mr. Huffman, should it ever take place, I will sing the last verse of Bob Dylan’s song I shall Be Released. 

Here is that verse:

“Standing next to me in this lonely crowd,
Is a man who swears he's not to blame.
All day long I hear him shout so loud,
Crying out that he was framed.
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released.”

Condi Is Kaput At Kior Leaves The Team

Condi Rice simply could not find weapons of mass combustion at Kior and has left the team and resigned from the board of directors of the Alchemic  pine tree to petrol company.

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/131223/kior8-k.html

“Due to the demands of other business commitments and personal time constraints, Condoleezza Rice, Ph.D, has resigned from the Board of Directors of KiOR, Inc. (the "Company") as of December 20, 2013. Dr. Rice's resignation is not due to any disagreement with the Company on any matter related to the Company's operations, policies or practices. In conveying her resignation, Dr. Rice said, "It has been a pleasure working with KiOR, Inc. and gratifying to see the continued progress that the company has made over time. I appreciate the opportunity to serve this company and its shareholders and wish the company all my best for continued success."
The Company thanks Dr. Rice for her invaluable services and contribution to the Company. “

Condi how the hell can we believe you!!!  

Condi’s departure came after the CFO and after Kior announced an update on the “operations” of their alchemic wonder plant in Columbus Mississippi.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/kior-provides-operational-columbus-facility-213000237.html

 "Given these factors," Mr. Cannon continued, "we believe that, from both an operational and financial perspective, we need to focus our execution on three simple goals: first, bringing the Columbus facility to the levels of operational and financial performance that we expected when we designed that facility over three years ago; second, continuing to develop our technology so that we can improve our yields and process improvements both at Columbus and at future facilities; and third, aggressively managing our cost without sacrificing our long term goals. To that end, from now through the end of the first quarter of 2014, we expect that our efforts at Columbus will be focused on implementing a series of mechanical improvements to the facility rather than production volumes. We plan to operate the facility on a limited campaign basis only to verify the expected impact of improvements we intend to implement. In addition, we continue to see encouraging developments in our catalyst and process development efforts that we believe will continue to drive improvement in yields and overall plant economics.”

I read this to say we will be having layoffs in the near future and forget the crap I told you about doubling down and adding a second plant to the Columbus site.  The silver lining in the whole deal is Vinod Cost Us lost some of his own money and that of his partners.   Will Condi continue on as a strategic adviser to Khosla or will she have other demands for her time like leading us into world war three?

Her buddy Col Powell should also read the green tea leaves and resign from the board of Bloom Energy as he helped that company get over a quarter of a billion dollars of our SGIP money.   The race to bottom between Kior and Bloom has been close but Condi won first prize in reaching being the Most Gangrene Former Secretary Of State.   Hillary is too smart to join the board of a “Green” company or become the team “Strategic Adviser” to a big VC firm.  Hillary simply wants to be President of the United Sates and unlike Condi did not need to sell 6,500 insider shares of KIOR at $13.22 on March 30, 2012 to fund her campaign.  Hill had Bill give a single talk to make three times as much.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=kior

Christmas In Northern California

It is almost Christmas and we have had almost no rain this season.   A terrible drought!   Al Gore will blame global warming, Deniers will say it is natural.  I will simply say the weather has changed and is weird.

We have had only 3.79 inches of rain since July 1.  Normal is 14.23 inches and last year we had 23.45 inches.

http://www.marinwater.org/

Our reservoir is pretty low and this should be the time of the year it replenishes.  I am worried.

Folks think it is simple to desalinate water but it is expensive and energy intensive.   A new large project for desalination is being undertaken in San Diego.   The link below provides a wealth of information.

http://carlsbaddesal.com/in-california-what-price-water

If half of the cost of the desalinated water is the power cost (probably close to the reality) then it takes about 30 kilowatt hours of electricity to produce 1,000 gallons of fresh water from seawater.  This means a carbon footprint of about 22.5 pounds of CO2 per 1,000 gallons of water in a place like San Diego where the grid emits about 0.75 pounds of CO2 per kwh.   From the Marin data it looks like we use approximately 100 gallons a day of water per person.  Therefore to desalinate 100 pounds of sea water will emit about two and a quarter pounds of CO2.   A person breathes about 1 pound of CO2 each day if they eat 2,000 kilocalories a day.   If you drive and use 2 gallons of gasoline you add about 50 pounds of CO2 (well to wheels).

I am dreaming of a rainy Christmas as we need the rain desperately and the sun has been our source of fresh water and producing desal water is expensive and energy intensive.   I will research if the San Diego project is the state-of-the-art in water desalination.   From the write up in the link it looks like they have deployed best in class technology and $2,000 per acre foot is probably the real value of desalinated water.   This is about $6.15 per thousand gallons or about 62 cents for the daily usage per person.   Water is the most critically short resource world wide and a bunch is used to support our lifestyle.   Fracking needs water, power generation needs water, most industry needs water, and I need a Crystal Geyser.   I can buy 35 crystal geyser half liter bottles for $4.99 at Safeway.    But the state adds $1.75 for bottle redemption value on the 35 bottles that I of course recycle.  No doubt my recycle and trash hauler gets this money.   My cost for a half liter of Crystal Geyser water is 16.4 cents.  This equates to about 62 cents a gallon.  Desalinated water is one hundred times cheaper than Crystal Geyser.  I guess I am Gangrene for drinking Crystal Geyser.

An update

I found this site that provides the current state of the art kwh/1000 gals and it seems they claim about 15 kwh per 1,000 gals.   therefore the CO2 emissions for 100 gallons per person per day is approximately 1 pound of CO2 or about as much as the average person with a 2,000 kilocal diet emits from breathing.

http://www.amtaorg.com/wp-content/uploads/7_MembraneDesalinationPowerUsagePutInPerspective.pdf

Al Gore Blows Methane Out Of 1,350 Holes

We all know the nonsense old Al talks, now his company Luca Technology is bust and has over 1,350 methane wells that were drilled in Wyoming that are open and untapped.  Yes Al you blow methane out of 1,350 holes and you invented global warming.

http://wyofile.com/dustin/gov-mead-wants-additional-3m-industry-account-plug-orphaned-wells/

http://trib.com/business/energy/luca-seeks-wyoming-commission-s-approval-of-plan-to-plug/article_a2b3f130-665f-5acf-9c59-944db2001ff0.html

Al and his partner John Doerr of Bloom and Fisker fame were early and big investors in Luca Technology the company with bio alchemy to turn coal seams into methane.   Luca is now bankrupt.   All we have left are 1,350 holes in the ground and Gore and Doerr have disappeared.

Here is a 2007 Fortune article that covered the green gurus of Gore and Doerr before they screwed up so big time in green space investing.   Gore was hot then and had just published his convenient untruths.   He even had a Nobel Prize.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0711/gallery.kleiner_gore.fortune/7.html

Now Doerr and the others at Kleiner Perkins wish they had never met Gore.

http://spectator.org/articles/55623/kleiner-perkins-sorry-it-ever-met-al-gore

I only gave Al my vote in 2000 so I never lost much in listening to his lies.  Boy do I wish I was as wise in 2000 as I am in 2013 I would have written in for Alfred E Newman instead of voting for Alfred E Gore.   Mr. Newman knew much more about thermo than Mr. Gore.   Maybe What Me Worry can plug the 1,350 holes in Wyoming and stop What Me Invent from venting and inventing methane.

A Green Leaf In Seattle

I can finally point to a really green Leaf in Seattle

It has been reported that Steve Marsh of Seattle Washington surpassed 100,000 miles on his 2011 Nissan Leaf plug in car.

http://insideevs.com/worlds-first-100000-mile-nissan-leaf-owner-receives-multiple-honors-in-washington/

The grid in Washington State is pretty green given the hydroelectric generation on the large dams built during the FDR era.    With only 146 pounds CO2 per mwh Washington is 6 times as green as a Bloom Coffin (884 pounds CO2 per mwh) in generating electric power.

http://www.nrdc.org/air/pollution/benchmarking/files/benchmarking-pr-2013.pdf

Mr. Marsh’s Leaf was built in Japan pre Fukashima disaster and the 24 kwh of batteries required 11,352 kwh of primary energy to be fabricated into the car’s battery pack.   In 2011 Japan emitted approximately 900 pounds of CO2 per mwh (now post Fukashima the rate is 1,600 pounds of CO2 per mwh).   Mr. Marsh’s battery pack emitted 10,217 pounds of CO2 in its manufacture.   Mr. Marsh used approximately 36,000 kwh of power from the grid to travel his 100,000 miles and emitted 5,256 pounds of CO2 for the power to propel his car.  In total Mr. Marsh emitted 15,473 pounds of CO2 and has fully amortized the energy (hence CO2) needed to fabricate his battery pack.   Had Mr. Marsh bought a Corolla that achieves 35 MPG he would have emitted 71,428 pounds of CO2 for the gasoline on a full well to wheels basis.

Bravo Mr. Marsh you are truly GREEN!!!!  You saved approximately 28 tons of CO2 driving all those miles.

Seattle is perhaps the most ideal city for owning a Leaf.   A green grid and weather that promotes longer life for the batteries.   Phoenix AZ has a harsh climate and the Leaf’s batteries have only one third of the lifespan in Phoenix compared to Seattle.   Juneau Alaska has the ideal climate for EV batteries. Dubai has the worst climate for EV batteries.

You all now do see that in certain locations with the driver putting on lots of mileage on the vehicle, the Leaf is an excellent choice as a green alternate for transportation.

The link below provide a lot of detail on battery life in various locales.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/wiki/index.php?title=Battery_Capacity_Loss

You can say goodbye to your batteries really fast in Dubai.  Juneau (did you know) that Juneau is the best place on earth for those batteries.

A Visit To Shanghai

I am starting to work on a project that entails semiconductor manufacture in Wuxi China.   Wuxi is a city about 100 miles from Shanghai.   Last week I stayed four days in Shanghai and two in Wuxi.   The last time I was in Shanghai was in 2003 when I was sent there to train the folks in the Bechtel office on the concept of sustainability.  In the ten years the Chinese economy has more than doubled and China has now become a major importer of its primary energy (coal and oil) needs.

The pace of life and business in Shanghai is rapid and one can clearly see the economic development over a ten year period that is placing China on a trajectory to eclipse the economic power of the US.   Regarding sustainability there is simply no real effort to moderate the use of coal or oil.  .

What is very apparent though is that the air pollution in the form of smog has reached a critical stage.   My trip coincided with the worst smog event in years and the weather caused a smog inversion that stretched from the north to the south of the country.   The day I arrived particulate levels were 35 times healthy levels.  The air “cleared” to a point where the levels of particulates were simply 4 time the maximum level that is “healthy”. 

The Chinese will probably move on adding scrubbers to remove particulate and air emissions like sulfur from their power, steel, and cement plants after an event such as this.  But I can assure you carbon emissions in China will continue to grow and imports of oil and coal will also rise.   It is estimated that China will increase its oil usage by over 400,000 barrels a day in 2013 alone.

Interestingly Buick is a marquee brand in China and this is because the car is considered to be the “emperor’s car” as the leader of China before the revolution drove a Buick.   Many of the cars are VWs and also Japanese brands.   I did see a brand that was new to me and that is a Skoda.   Skoda is owned by VW and is a Czech based company.   I thought of Saturday Night Live and the old wild and crazy skits every time I saw a Skoda.

What was also interesting was the popularity of Starbucks.   A Venti soy latte in Shanghai costs about $6 and is about 30% more expensive that the same drink here in Marin County.   The locals lap up Starbucks drinks but no customer was older than 40 years old.  It is the drink of choice for the up and coming young executives and white collar workers.  

At the Shanghai Pudong international airport it was amazing to see the price of a Haagen Daz ice cream.  A single scoop in a cup was over $7.  Of course I did not buy this.   A 12 ounce can of Pepsi was only 55 cents at the airport and a tube of Mentos mints was 80 cents.  I satisfied my sugar craving with a Pepsi and a tube of Mentos.  

My take from my brief trip to China and watching all those barges laden with coal traveling up river past my hotel is that China is prospering.  They will import more coal and more oil, drive more cars, eat more protein, drink more Starbucks, and soon overtake the US as the leading economy in the world.  

While I was away Mr. Huffman continued to post on his Facebook page that he took to the floor of the US House to remind his opponents that because it snows does not mean there is no climate change.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/11/jared-huffman-climate-change_n_4426228.html

Yes Mr. Huffman there is climate change and part of it is because you gave Bloom Energy $257 million of our SGIP money to fund their dirty, inefficient, polluting, and expensive Coffins that spew out 225% of the CO2 per megawatt hour compared with the PG&E grid.   Thankfully we do not have high particulate levels in our air in NorCal just carbon dioxide from those Bloom Coffins.  

The sad truth is I really do think that we have a problem with carbon emissions and related global warming. We do need to debate global warming and we do need to slow the rate of increase of carbon dioxide into the air.  Sadly it is hypocrites like Al Gore and Jared Huffman who hijack this important cause for their own aggrandizement and this makes the debate on real energy policy impossible and very partisan.   

Our Nelson

For many years since the battle of Trafalgar, Lord Nelson was the most famous Nelson.   His statue may stand tall in the center of London but his stature compared with Our Nelson is small.   Our Nelson needs no statues, needs no streets named after him, and needs no international airports that bear his name.  Our Nelson will be remembered simply by his name that stands for resolve, courage, caring, kindness, and integrity.

Lord Nelson won one battle, Our Nelson won the world!

For me as a white person born in South Africa in the early 1950s who came to America as a refugee in 1975, Nelson is a heroic symbol that at first in my youth was someone I was told to be terrified of.   We were fed propaganda on the radio (SABC) how there was a “swaart gevaar” (a black danger) and that Nelson was the leader of the swaart gevaar.  Note South Africa had no TV so we never really saw a picture of the Swaart Gevaar, it was simply the radio giving us subliminal audio messages of our impending domination and doom.

At Wits University where I studied there would be graffiti saying “Free Mandela”.   A mocking engineer struck out Mandela and wrote Energy.   I simply went through life as dumb late teenager with raging hormones.   In 1974 I attended the Wits Business School and met Chief Gatya Buthelezi of the Zulus.  That was a guy who really scared the crap out of me. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangosuthu_Buthelezi

South Africa under white rule had Bantustans or homelands and these chiefs were puppets of the Apartheid regime.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantustan

Nelson would have nothing to do with acquiescing to yoke of Apartheid like Buthelezi and the other “Paramount” Chiefs.    Nelson had the resolve and courage to hold out for real freedom for his people and all people.

I left South Africa after joining a chemical company as a young manager having gained my MBA.  I made the “mistake” of promoting a black worker into a “white man’s” job.   Interestingly that job was as a crane operator to remove sulfur laden solid waste in the desulfurization of synthesis gas at an ammonia plant.   Very similar to the hazardous sulfur laden solid waste I have often discussed about Al Gore’s Gangrene Bloom Boxes.

I caused a strike by the unionized white workers when I refused to demote the Black worker out of the job they claimed was reserved for whites.  The management of the factory (British and Harry Oppenheimer owned) would not support me or the black worker.  I resigned my job and went directly to the US Embassy in Pretoria to get my papers to come to the US.  My Dad was a US citizen so that was pretty quick and easy.  I had given up on South Africa and simply feared an impending blood bath.

Nelson avoided that blood bath I and so many others feared.  Buthelezi and the other “Paramount” Chiefs would not have avoided the conflict if they had the power of the “Presidency”.  I also admire F W De Klerk as a man who is blessed with resolve, courage, and integrity.   F. W. De Clerk knew that Nelson would do great in his “white man’s” job of President of the Republic of South Africa.

I have no clue what happened to the black worker who I promoted to be a crane operator in the sulfur removal pit.   After 38 years I cannot even remember his name.  I knew he could do that job well but we never found out just how well he would have done that job. He simply was never given the chance.

Nelson, you proved that it is content of one’s character not the color of one’s skin that matters in doing the job well.  Nelson you are my beacon to give me the resolve to continue to tackle the well-connected gangrene crowd that are ripping us off blind in the green energy space.   They are the Gotyas of Green Greed.   Nelson your example of courage is awesome.   Nelson you stand taller than Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square near South Africa House, you stand as Our Nelson way up there in heaven.  God Bless You.

A Footnote Nelson did resemble Ali as a young man.  Both were boxers and both are examples of courage and both are champions of the world.